Chapter I: Foreword

The Author desires to state that none of the characters in this story, either boys or masters, are portraits. The incidents are entirely fictitious, and Deal School, though it shares certain topographical features with the school with which the Author is connected, exists only in his imagination.

ST. GEORGE’S SCHOOL,
NEWPORT: _18 April, 1912_.

CONTENTS

CHAPTER PAGE

I. DEAL SCHOOL 1

II. A HAZING BEE 10

III. “PAX” 24

IV. MICHAELMAS TERM 35

V. THE BOXFORD GAME 47

VI. AFTERMATH 61

VII. LOVEL’S WOODS 71

VIII. A MIDNIGHT LARK 87

IX. AN ENDING 107

X. FINCH 120

XI. THE DISCOMFITURE OF DUCKY THORNTON 130

XII. A GATING AND A GAME 146

XIII. THE NIGHT OF THE BONFIRE 159

XIV. THE SPECTACLE 169

XV. TONY PLAYS THE PART OF A GUARDIAN ANGEL 188

XVI. A RIFT IN FRIENDSHIP 204

XVII. LEAVE-TAKING 216

XVIII. THE HEAD PREFECTSHIP 232

XIX. THE RESULT OF THE PROTEST 250

XX. FINCH’S HOUR 267

XXI. SELF-SACRIFICE 284

XXII. THE CHAPEL 294

XXIII. THE LAST TERM 306

ILLUSTRATIONS

“Don’t have a fit, Deering, it’s only Maclaren” _Page 99_
_Frontispiece_

Map of Deal School ix

FACING PAGE

Like a flash he slipped off his coat and cast it full in
Chapin’s face 22

“After due consideration Captain Maclaren and I have decided to
play Deering at left end in to-morrow’s game.” 50

Tony dodged ... and raced on with a clear field 158

He opened the drawers and thrust malicious disturbing hands
among the contents 210

Tony was putting his questions now rapidly and with intention for
he had become suspicious 254

With terrible effort he got to the surface again 292

“You will certainly be coming up to college next year?” 306

“Tall, eager, a face to remember,
A flush that could change as the day;
A spirit that knew not December,
That brightened the sunshine of May”

Fresh breezes blow and touch their favorite hill,
The waters quiver in the mellow light,
Wafts Paradise her fragrance o’er the marsh,
The Campus gleams with crimson and with white.

Fair banners flutter in the flowing winds,
And hopes are gleaming from the eyes of youth;
Old songs, from hearts that throb with loyal blood,
Arise, and echo with the ring of truth.

Bright laughter, merry shouts attune the air,
And over all the place is cast the gleam
That early summer lends unto the hours,
The passing hours that flow as doth a dream.

Fleet eager boys the base attain; the ball
In ambient air speeds like a fleeing bird;
Swift hands and sure arrest its vagrant flight,
As from a hundred throats hurrahs are heard.

Dear scenes! as pensive through them wandering,
The shadows lengthen in the slanting light;
Mists float across the golden campus, gleam
As light of stars in stilly depths of night.

Then faces in the wreathes of mist appear,
Dear faces that we loved in long ago
Shine brightly; voices murmur in the air,
Beloved voices that we used to know.

Fades far the dreamy present, fades the day,
With its enduring hopes and passing fears;
Old Boys surround us; and the heart is glad
For all the friendliness of vanished years.

DEERING OF DEAL